Last month I blogged about the tragic death of a UNC mom who appeared to have fallen from her daughter’s dorm bunk bed. The university’s response was to consider requiring bed rails on all dorm bunks even though the housing director had noted that bed rails have hurt students in the past. My point was that, despite the tragedy of the mom’s death, the university’s knee-jerk response was illogical and unnecessary.
Now we have word that an investigation concludes Ms. Sykes most likely got entangled in her daughter’s walker — the daughter has cerebral palsy — and didn’t fall from the bunk bed. Yet, as the News & Observer reports, the university plans this:
The university will likely go ahead with plans to purchase bed rails for all rooms at a cost of $250,000, he said.
He said officials are awaiting results of a survey sent to all dorm residents on bed rail use, but the university is likely to go ahead and buy the rails.
“That is our plan at the moment, with safety as our primary goal,” Bradley said.
So they’re going to spend $250,000 to safeguard young adults from a safety breach that didn’t occur?
Despite the university’s illogical and expensive action, keep the Sykes family in your thoughts.
